Latest News from the CIT Extended Campus
Irish Businesses Look to the Skies at CIT BCO Space Industry Day
22 October, 2019
Space Industry experts and professionals joined business representatives and entrepreneurs at the Space Industry Day, held at Cork County Hall on October 11.
The event, organised by CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory, took place as part of Space Week and outlined the opportunities available in Ireland’s emergent space sector. Ireland recently joined the European Southern Observatory and was a founding member of the European Space Agency. Representatives from both these groups were present to outline the funding and employment opportunities open to Irish citizens and businesses, and how best to avail of them.
As the global space industry is projected to grow from $350 billion to $1 trillion by 2030, Ireland needs to be well-positioned to exploit business opportunities in the sector. To ensure this, Dr Barry O’Connor, President of Cork Institute of Technology, and Mr Rory Fitzpatrick, CEO of the National Space Centre, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a joint commitment to develop and promote the Irish Space Sector.
As well as promoting Ireland as a hub for the international space industry, both CIT and the NSC will work together to develop a space industry campus in Ireland, to create new educational programmes supporting industry development, and to maximise the level of investment in space industry funding nationally.
CIT President, Dr O’Connor said, “It is important that industry in Ireland is supported to exploit the excellent opportunities afforded by the rapidly developing space sector. CIT is very happy to collaborate with the NSC in providing this strategic support”.
Mr Fitzpatrick commented, “As Europe's most westerly teleport located near Midleton, Co. Cork, the National Space Centre is uniquely positioned to provide cutting edge services to Irish companies seeking to exploit space industry opportunities. We are delighted to work with CIT to ensure that that these opportunities will be exploited by Irish firms”.
Earlier this year, Minister John Halligan of The Department of Business Enterprise and Innovation announced the Space Strategy for Enterprise, signalling Ireland’s commitment to establishing itself as a world leader in the new phase of an ever-evolving space sector, known as Space 4.0.
